Mustaqbal Pakistan's chairman responds to questions about the party's strategy and prospects.
Q1. The formation of a party like Mustaqbal Pakistan was a pleasant surprise for everyone who has heard about you. A party by its very definition consists of a group of like minded individuals with common goals. Where is your core team of leaders? Is it in place and not revealed as yet or are you hoping to attract the right people for those positions slowly and steadily?
There is a 'founding group' of people who conceived the idea of launching the party in mid 2008. As I've mentioned in my talks on the website these are professional people some of whom are abroad and some in Pakistan. However, these are not the people who will form the core team of party leaders. Their role will remain primarily as an advisory group providing technical support and guidance when needed.
As regards the core group of leaders who will in fact take the party forward, these are people we have already started to attract. Since we launched many have come on board and they continue to join. v Eventually we hope to have on board a candidate for every national and provincial seat in Pakistan. These will be honest, decent and competent people with Pakistan and her interests as their primary motivation. They are out there. And they are starting to come our way.
Q2. When you say you will fundamentally change the political system in Pakistan, what exactly do you have in mind? Is your focus on local bodies and grass roots change or will your party members run for the next general elections and slowly increase your seats in Parliament over the next decade (which might be too late)? If not those two paths, do you have something more drastic in mind?
This is an interesting question. Let me address our view on local bodies first as distinct from 'grass roots'. This is because I think you can get to the grass roots without going the local bodies 'route'.
Mustaqbal's view is that the local bodies system, while it may be viable at some point in the future, is not realistic or viable in Pakistan at the present time. This has to do with poverty, low levels of literacy and a lack of awareness of basic political rights. I know of studies which suggest that GNP per capita needs to be at least USD 3000 before such systems can work effectively.
The risk, as always in Pakistan, is that a particular clique of people will use influence and coercion to gain control of local bodies. The door is then open to corruption and siphoning of public funds for private gain and perpetuation of power. This only happens because most voters are illiterate, destitute and unaware of their rights and hence powerless. The absence of law enforcement and lack of access to judicial recourse exacerbates an already untenable situation.
The upshot is that Mustaqbal will not support the local bodies system as it currently exists. We would prefer to use the administrative machinery of state to handle these functions - at least in the short to medium term - the next 5 to 10 years.
In terms of our strategy to bring about a fundamental change: I've talked about this somewhat in the video titled "Basic Issues" on our site. Lets first understand that we are not here to play the same game that traditional political parties play, and have played for decades. I'm sure you've heard the adage about beating someone at their own game. If we tried, we would lose.
So our job is to change the game. We believe the elements that will make this possible are now in place. These include the Internet and mass media such as TV and FM radio. We also believe that some of the premises of old need to be challenged. For example, in our view, feudalism is no longer the bugbear that it once may have been. This has to do with hereditary division of land holdings over time and also with a growing awareness of the rural poor.
We plan to combine these elements into a strategy that will resemble a marketing campaign for a consumer product rather than a conventional political campaign. What we want to do is to create a 'consumer pull' that will encourage people to vote for the party, not the individual we put up as our candidate. Its our job then to nominate candidates who will measure up to the high standards we intend to demand of them.
Pie in the sky? We don't think so. We have - as a country - the people, the talent and the resources to pull it off. The time is right, people are ready, even desperate. Change is in the air.
Q3. The best way to expose people to alternative leaders is to have a sort of shadow cabinet in place, like they do in most democracies. When you position alternative people against leaders in office and they make more sense than those in power, people are more likely to vote them in. Once your team is in place, will you be publicly taking on the policies of the government and educating the public about alternative policy paths?
The concept of a shadow cabinet is a key part of our strategy. Some portfolios have already been filled. Others will be soon.
Our 'ministers' who, I should mention, are professionals and specialists in their respective areas, have been asked to develop detailed plans and policies in their areas. This requires of course an understanding of the status quo (painful as it is). We are ambitious, but realistic. We know that you cannot build castles on the economic quicksand created by decades of mismanagement. So change will come, but not overnight.
We absolutely intend to expose our 'cabinet' to the public. In fact we are hoping that our proposals will spark a debate that may well oblige the present government to review some of its wrong headed policies. So in some sense we'll be at work before we take office.
Q4. To change the current political system, will you be taking a confrontational approach by staying outside the mainstream or will you be willing to work with current leaders in guiding them towards better policy making to salvage our current resources. For example, large think tanks in the US are a major part of policy making and hold a lot of clout, especially during Republican regimes. Will you be playing a role like the CFR, RAND, Brookings etc or will you just work on positioning your party against the current ones.?
In our view the present politicians, whether in government or the opposition, are incompetent and irrelevant. Talking to them would be like talking to a wall. Our time is better spent in delivering our message to the hearts of the real decision makers - the common people of Paksitan. To this we will devote our full effort.
The tragedy of Pakistan is that our leaders have abdicated the role of setting policy to outsiders. We, here in Pakistan, know what is good for us. Our policy is to put the Washington think tanks out of business. If they would like to talk to us they are welcome. But we do not plan to seek them out.
Q5. Will your party be interested in establishing a network of development projects like polytechnics or vocational centres of excellence, hospitals etc that serve the masses and prove your ability to transform the landscape in a short period of time. This usually provides loyal support from the masses and parties such as Hamas and Hezbollah have used their charity networks to win people on a personal and political level.?
We will do what is best for the country. If it happens to be good for the party so be it. What we will not do is put the party's interest ahead of the national interest. So if we deem the projects and initiatives that you have mentioned in your question to be in Pakistan's interest - and only then - we will seek to implement them.Q6. One of your interesting interview comments was that "an economy without interest is possible". Will you be setting up an Islamic economic system in parallel to the existing one, giving people a choice similar to the Malaysian model or will you be gradually eliminating interest based transactions from the economy and heading towards an ideal Islamic financial system.
This is a very difficult issue. To start with, I think we all need to remember that eliminating interest from the economy is a constitutional imperative (Article 38f) and not an ideological preference. And remember also that this is the original, unmutilated 1973 constitution.
Two issues arise: One, is it possible to eliminate interest from a modern economy which is integrated into the global economic system? And, two, assuming that it is, is it desirable?
My answer to the first is that it is difficult but not impossible. On the second question I think - assuming we set aside the constitutional obligation for a moment - that it would indeed be desirable.
I am not familiar with the Malaysian economic model so I can't comment on it. What I can say with some certainty is that an interest free system does not exist in any other Muslim country today. What exists is a weak hearted - perhaps weak minded - attempt to sugar coat business as usual with soothing Arabic terms such as sukook, mudaraba, murahaba etc.
What we at Mustaqbal plan to do is to bring the best economic minds together and see if we can develop an economic model that is genuinely free of the concept of an economic rent for money.
Tall order? Maybe. But we know we have some of the smartest people in economics working and teaching in Pakistan. We would be more than happy to let them have a go at this.
Q6. One of your interesting interview comments was that "an economy without interest is possible". Will you be setting up an Islamic economic system in parallel to the existing one, giving people a choice similar to the Malaysian model or will you be gradually eliminating interest based transactions from the economy and heading towards an ideal Islamic financial system.
This is a very difficult issue. To start with, I think we all need to remember that eliminating interest from the economy is a constitutional imperative (Article 38f) and not an ideological preference. And remember also that this is the original, unmutilated 1973 constitution.
Two issues arise: One, is it possible to eliminate interest from a modern economy which is integrated into the global economic system? And, two, assuming that it is, is it desirable?
My answer to the first is that it is difficult but not impossible. On the second question I think - assuming we set aside the constitutional obligation for a moment - that it would indeed be desirable.
I am not familiar with the Malaysian economic model so I can't comment on it. What I can say with some certainty is that an interest free system does not exist in any other Muslim country today. What exists is a weak hearted - perhaps weak minded - attempt to sugar coat business as usual with soothing Arabic terms such as sukook, mudaraba, murahaba etc.
What we at Mustaqbal plan to do is to bring the best economic minds together and see if we can develop an economic model that is genuinely free of the concept of an economic rent for money.
Tall order? Maybe. But we know we have some of the smartest people in economics working and teaching in Pakistan. We would be more than happy to let them have a go at this.
Q7. Another interesting view of yours was about "a fair mechanism to buy back privatised units" in industries with strategic importance to the nation. This could be misunderstood and end up being disastrous for your party's image as well as for the nation, if you came into power. Please elaborate. ?
We are absolutely committed to the re-acquisition of vital national assets. And contrary to what you mention in your question, I think it would be disastrous for our party image if we failed to do so.
Look at the power sector. It is not even a disaster. It's a catastrophe. What was the then minister of privatization (the current finance minister), or his boss for that matter, thinking when they sold off priceless national assets for a song? I remember this particular minister at a press conference, after signing away KESC, say: "Karachi's lights will never go off again"! What was going on? Were there no adults running the country?
Q8. Out of your policy goals, if there were three things you could achieve overnight with a magic wand, what would they be?
Unfortunately, there are no magic wands. Our three policy priorities will be:
1. Ending the insurgencies in the Frontier and Baluchistan
2. Bringing the economy back from the brink of death
3. Launching an urgent program to reign in runaway population growth.
Q9. Will you focus inside Pakistan for now or will you be opening up public chapters in places with heavy expat communities e.g. USA, Canada, UK, Middle East etc. These could be critical in terms of attracting funding as well as competent people willing to serve their country by joining you. ?
Our focus is currently only inside Pakistan. We do not have any activity scheduled yet to attract the diaspora. It is on the agenda and we will turn our attention to it soon.
Interestingly, though, we are getting a lot of interest from outside - especially the US. It seems people have been forwarding the website link to their friends and relatives abroad. These responses are in general very supportive. People have been wishing us well and asking us how they can help.
Q10. Your online launch shows that you want to address the educated online audience and then move to the masses. What are your plans for increasing your mainstream media presence and reaching the rural masses?
You are correct. That is exactly the way we have planned it. The response to the website is so overwhelmingly positive that it has exceeded our most optimistic expectations.
Our plan is to use the Net to put in place the basic structure of the party - geographically speaking. So we would have educated, Net literate, members and volunteers spread over the country.
Once this network is in place, or at least a substantial part of it, we will move to the mass media. This will include billboards, TV and radio ads, print advertising, and of course public appearances by the party's leaders and policymakers.
Q11. What sort of tools will you be using to explain your policies to the common man? Will you be producing short films, documentaries, infographics and presentations for your supporters to push the cause. Al Gores' famous Inconvenient Truth campaign is a relevant example.Demystifying current issues like Energy, Health, Defence etc and then giving specific solutions supported by data would be a new and noticeable way to counter the hollow rhetoric of current politicians and parties. ?
My feeling is that the sort of approach you are alluding to in your question is more appropriate to a rich, developed country of the first world. The vast majority of our voting public are illiterate and poor. Our feeling is that their voting preferences are more a matter of the heart than they are of the mind. They will look at us and our people and listen as well. But they will not necessarily be swayed by the data and the way it is presented at least partly because they are poorly equipped to understand it. Instead they will rely on gut feel. When they look at our faces, hear our voices, watch our body language, they will know in their hearts that we are not like the rest. This is the 'fitra' that I spoke about in the 'Basic Issues" video. People can tell almost instinctively those who are honest, sincere and truthful from those who are not. Ours is a campaign for the heart not the mind.
Having said that I'd like to emphasize that we will certainly be doing our homework in regard to analysing and drawing conclusions from all the available data we can get our hands on. But this will be to develop realistic policies rather than to impress a simple and trusting public.
Q12. What are the next major steps your party will be taking to establish itself as a force to reckon with? There is a huge difference between being a fledgling party for an educated niche and being powerful enough to form a government and run a country like Pakistan. We're all running out of time so how will you accelerate this journey?
The part about running out of time is absolutely correct. We are in this not just to create some waves, gain a modicum of recognition and assuage our egos. We are deadly serious. The stakes are very high. We have a game plan that is evolving with events and new inputs but its overall direction remains the irrevocable commitment to contest the general elections of 2013 and form the government at the center and all the provinces. This, today, may seem excessively exuberant, perhaps even ludicrous. But it remains within the realm of the possible. And indeed it is only this kind of mandate that will allow us to transform the destiny of Pakistan from an also ran to a leader.
How can we accelerate the journey? I think people like you and your colleagues: young, educated, energetic, smart, and net literate should: One, come on board, and two, use all the means at your disposal to spread the word: We are here, and we are going to win. Failure is not an option.
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